The Song of the Siren
by Sanguinary Tide
Summary: When the quiet and demure, former opera singer turned historical researcher, Sofia Delisa returns home to Italy, she was prepared to deal with her Mafioso family. She was not, however, prepared to deal with the oh-so-very loud and destructive force known as the VARIA, more specifically a silver haired swordsman. Neither is pleased with the circumstances they find themselves in.


**Foreword:** Hello…I have, but one excuse…and that is…Work stole my life from me…don't believe me? There were days when I'd get home at 11:30pm and then get up at 4am, only to leave the house for work an hour later the following morning. So yea, ….but…the bills must be paid! . …Ughhh…yea…I never meant to go this long without posting SOMETHING, but…I did…so I can only hope that I can jump back into my previous established schedule of trying to post something once a week. Anyway, moving on:

Installment no. 4 of the "SUMMER TEASE" has arrived! So, slight warning, Squalo's story isn't exactly on the same type of timeline as everyone else's as you'll soon note as you read on, but don't fret. …this is a story that traverses the years. ^^

**Disclaimer:** This'll be the one and only time I state this, so here: I don't own Katekyo Hitman REBORN! That work and it's characters are property of Amano Akira. Anyone disputing this bit of info or inquiring it again and can go take a walk down the gullet of Superbi Squalo's box weapon. -.^ Anyone?

**The Song of the Siren**

_**Prologue: A Letter to Spell**_

_(December 2017)_

"I'm afraid that won't do."

"Oh. …_well, of course."_ There was a moment of hesitation as the man drew a shaky breath. "Yes. Yes, I quite agree. Such an exquisite piece is worth far more than that paltry amount. How about twenty-five tho—"

"No," once again, the quiet and almost demure, but undoubtedly firm voiced woman cut him off. "You misunderstand me and I don't dare waste my breath nor will I allow you to continue to waste yours. The piece is not for sale, Mr. Calloway."

The middle aged collector was for a moment silent in his befuddlement, but recovered quickly, "Ah, well I'm su—"

…only to be thwarted again, "It's been a pleasure chatting with you Mr. Calloway, but I have a museum to run and I'm sure you have engagements to prepare for. My assistant shall see you out. Tanya."

No sooner had she uttered the woman's voice, did the brunette enter the office with an almost inappropriate amount of exuberance, "_Mr. Calloway_."

With little else left to do aside from make nonsensical utterings as his mouth debated between opening and closing, the man huffed finally and his jaws clamped together in an audible chomp as he stood and followed the preppy young woman, a displeased frown upon his face.

Watching the man leave not only her office, but her museum, the curator waited until he was completely out of her viewable premises before sighing softly and relaxing into her chair. She was just bringing the now luke warm cup of tea to her lips when her assistant returned. The girl hovered at her doorway, her fingers fidgeting around her phone. The curator took a sip and grimaced. _Too sweet._ "What is it, Tanya?"

Upon hearing her name, she flinched and snapped to attention, "Um…he…_he_…called again." At the narrowing of her employer's eyes, she hurriedly tacked on, "Two times yesterday after you left for the day and three times this morning while you were entertaining Mr. Calloway."

With a sigh, she returned the cup to her desk, "I told you to—"

"I did!" Tanya insisted, cutting her off, although she seemed to blanch as she noticed her mistake. "Pardon me, Ms. deLisa, but I did as you told me. He just wouldn't be deterred; it was all I could do to tell him that you were in a meeting."

Sofia deLisa, as evidenced by the etching on her office door and the name plate on her desk rolled her eyes. _Stubborn old man._

"There's more," added the intern.

Her dark blue nearly black eyes darted forward again as Sofia pinned her employee with a sharp gaze, "_Oh_?"

Swallowing thickly, Tanya stepped forward, "This came in the mail for you today," and placed an envelope on her desk.

Sofia stared at it. _…He wouldn't. _Almost hesitantly she picked up the envelope, but looking at the script scrawled onto it, she knew he _would_. She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw, lest her assistant see just how she _really_ felt about the old man sending such a thing to her job. _Her father._ _They'd had a deal_…and she supposed _technically they still did_. When she left Italy to pursue other things, she'd made him promise to never interfere with her personal life and as per the agreement she never disclosed her home address to him and in turn he agreed to not go digging it up. Of course, he _was her father _and she couldn't simply just end her relationship with him. They kept in touch via phone and the occasional email. _Recently, _however…he'd begun trying her patience with all his talk of returning for a visit home and had taken to ignoring his calls. She could hardly say she was surprised it had come to this, but she was quite annoyed at it. Still, it was here and it wasn't like she'd have to respond so she decided to humor her curiosity.

Tanya watched with concealed curiosity as her boss reached behind her head, for the slender letter opener that helped trap her platinum blonde hair into an impossibly neat chignon. She wasn't curious about the letter opener; no she'd gotten used to such things with her employer and was just as familiar with her quirks as she was the woman's Italian accent. Tanya was more curious about the letter; she knew who the sender was, Mr. deLisa, her employer's father. It was hard not to be curious; Sofia was infamously tightlipped about her family and her past before coming to the U.S. to study. _Sure_, she knew bits about him from the fact that he called his daughter often enough—_especially in the last few days—_but something was up. It wasn't like her to ignore her father's calls. Tanya could only assume it was a family matter and she was _dying _to know just what the details of that matter were.

Sofia set the opener aside and removed a single card from the envelope. The paper was of heavy cardstock and it was obviously an invitation of sorts:

_ 'The deLisa family is pleased to invite you to the Celebration of Vongola Decimo, Tsunayoshi Sawada. We welcome you to join in the festivities as we celebrate the recent succession of the tenth generation.'_

She hurriedly skimmed the rest and fought the urge to scowl. Of course, her family was sending the invites…they were hosting it. They'd be having their grand week long celebration on the estate that she grew up in. Well, they could have it without her, because she—

Her thoughts faltered as her eyes skimmed over the final sentence.

'…_where we will be pleased to present the deLisa family treasure…'_

"Tanya."

A stumble, as the girls jump nearly took her from her heels, "Yes?"

"Reschedule all my appointments; I'm going to be out of town for a few weeks."

She blinked, a bewildered look on her face, "…yes, ma'am."

"And book me a flight to Florence."

"Florence_, Italy_?"

Sofia looked up from the invitation to narrow her eyes, "Yes, Florence,_ Italy_."

Embarrassed, Tanya cleared her throat and straightened her posture, "How soon, Ms. deLisa?"

Returning her gaze to the horrid piece of mail, she evoked a look of surprise from her intern when she said, "I'd like to be out the country before sunset."

"But…but that's in like _six hours…_"

As she stood from her desk, Tanya couldn't help but jealously admire the grace with which the woman carried herself in black slacks, a white blouse, and black pumps. A simple attire, but everything had a tendency to seem so much more when her boss was wearing it._ Still_...seeing her look so perfect and graceful as she replied, "Then you should probably get started, then_, don't you think?_" …only made her want to stab the bitch with her letter opener. …_maybe that's why she keeps it on her all the time_, she silently mused to herself as she muttered, "Yes, ma'am," and hurried out the office.

Assured that the intern would see to her job, Sofia plucked the _innocent _invitation from her desk with a look of disdain. Her gaze once again returning to the card's last words.

_…over her dead body…_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Voi!" The call of the shark commander was heard loud and clear throughout the whole east wing of the VARIA mansion, and yet…no one answered his call. They were all too busy avoiding him…_well_, mainly Xanxus, but by extension any of the other commanders as well. No one wanted to get caught in the crossfire of what was likely to be a battle of dying will flames, sharp objects, and horrible mind bending scenarios. It was a destructive feeding frenzy that had already destroyed most of the estate's common areas in the last few days—most of which couldn't (_or rather wouldn't_) be repaired until the occupants either left or calmed down…the latter being the most unlikely. What event could have possibly led to such a catastrophe for the staff of the VARIA mansion, you might ask?

It seemed rather insignificant at the time, but all of this began when a single letter or rather invitation arrived in the mail. It would seem that the Sawada boy, although he could hardly be called a boy at 19 years old, had finally accepted his place as Vongola boss and the deLisa family was holding a celebration in that honor. …but even more horrifying…the VARIA were among the invited guests. It was of course mocked right into the trash. The VARIA had no intention of attending such an event…_at least until the call from Vongola Nono came. _Noone knew what was said, but the one servant who'd not only witnessed and survived the event claimed that Xanxus was so enraged that the phone literally combusted in his grasp while the tequila in his other hand ignited like a fiery pool so as to match the flames in his eyes…._or so the rumor goes._ It's kind of glossed over as the guy was doped out on a ton of morphine while he was recovering from the numerous third degree burns he'd recieved.

Of course, the rest of the commanders weren't as bothered by this as much as the boss was…in fact…you could say they were downright excited. …and in the VARIA household…_that was just as bad._ Apparently, some of them were looking forward to the social gathering (Lussuria), while others were looking for a chance to even the scores against their perspective rivals. Either way, the VARIA staff all knew it would lead to only one thing: _chaos._ So, they hid as best they could and tried not to cry when they were found and dragged off to do only god knows what.

_"VOIII!"_

The manservant gasped as the door at his back was suddenly snatched open and tumbled out into the hallway floor.

"What the hell are you doing in the closet, you piece of shit?" The Rain commander himself snarled down at him, pale blue eyes tearing into him.

He shrank into the carpet as he stuttered his reply, "I was…I…I was straightening the co-coats."

Squalo sneered at him before shifting his gaze to the closet's interior. Sure enough, the coats were all ordered by and then by color and all the other miscellaneous items stored in the space had been organized. The man had in fact done just as he said in preparation for the occasion that this very event might happen. Narrowing his gaze dubiously at the outerwear, the commander returned his gaze to the now trembling servant. With a speed that nearly made the man wet himself, Squalo snatched him up by his collar, "_Well_ you're done with that now, so you can do something for me!"

…and without another word, the swordsman proceeded to drag the servant towards his quarters…

_Yes. The next few days were hell on earth for the staff as the notorious group of assassins prepared to leave for the week long celebration. Truly, the mundane workers of the mansion were grateful when they left, yet _still_…they held pity in their hearts for the household that would soon play host to the terrible group._

* * *

**Afterword:** So yea…no one's even met anyone…but that's okay. This was just meant to introduce you to the story's setup and Sofia. . Either way, I hope you enjoyed and that this has piqued your interests.

Hope to post again, soon!

**_-S.T._**


End file.
